1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a weighing device for the registration of goods in stores, in which each purchased article is identified, subsequently weighed for weight-registration purposes in a weighing receptacle and then taken up, where appropriate, by a carrying container.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is already known to register goods purchased in department stores at self-service goods-registration points and to draw up automatic statements. For this purpose, the customer brings the goods which he/she has purchased, generally in a shopping cart, to a goods-registration point and guides them through a scanning procedure by which bar-coded labels attached to the goods are scanned. Afterwards, the goods are placed into a depositing container, which can also be a further shopping cart and is coupled to a balance. In identifying the goods by the scanning of their labels, the price and weight of the goods are determined. The price of the goods is reported to a till system, the weight information is fed to a comparison device. When the goods are then subsequently weighed, their weight can be compared to the weight information obtained in the identification procedure. If the comparison values agree, then a faulty evaluation or attempted deception can be ruled out.
In the case of this self-service registration of goods, inaccuracies and delays can occur. The balances normally have a weighing accuracy of just a few grams. In the weighing procedure, the time it takes for the balance to settle is often substantially prolonged by different types of external influences, for example accidental nudging, drafts etc.. Moreover, the depositing of the goods, following weighing, in a depositing container belonging to the goods-registration device entails a time loss, since the goods can only thereafter be packed.
It is also already known, instead of a depositing container, to provide carrier bags directly alongside the goods-registration device. However, these have to be taken by the customer from a special storage bay and placed onto the balance. The registered goods can then be filled directly into such a carrier bag. In this case however, the carrier bag has first to be unfolded and erected, thereby substantially prolonging the time spent, particularly where a plurality of carrier bags is used.